Yes, they are. There’s a strange, elite idea that cattle grazing in forests and on grasslands is an efficient use of the land, and then we turn around and spend hundreds of […]
Cattle are Burning Down British Columbia
The Fire is Us
There are fires in all directions, for the fourth year in a row. Note the smoke above, in the Okanagan, and below, in the Cariboo. Cough cough. There’s a lot of talk […]
Crazy for Wine
The Penticton Western News is really into wine these days. Here’s a screenshot from an article from May: How great is that. Pandosy arrived in 1859, camped at Ellison, froze in the […]
What is Water For?
In a time of great fires, water is for putting them out, and for playing with your friends, in memory of times when the sky was clear. Pretty important things, eh. But […]
Unsettling Fire
Here’s the Flat Lake Fire when it first really got going a few evenings back, looking north from Big Bar Lake. And here’s the Bonaparte fire, through the smoke, off to the […]
A Walk in Nature
In the Okanagan, trails are wide. That way, people can use them as exercise routes. The idea is to get out into nature. More practically, the invasive weeds thrive so well that […]
Out of a Garden, A Desert: The Nuts and Bolts of Settler Culture
Every generation and social class in Canada gets to make the country new, in their own image. That’s part of being in a settler society. Settlement is a permanent process, and everyone […]
Only the Flowers, Please and Thank You
Not the lawn (yes, that’s a lawn, Vernon style). Yuck. But morning glory flowers! Ah. Give us the weeds! So delicious.
How Hot is It in the Okanagan?
So hot that the native vegetation has abandoned summer, to wait it out until spring. It’s nice to think of this ancestor as a beautiful springtime sunflower. Truth is, it wouldn’t be […]
Let’s Help the Children Have a House to Live in
So, let’s say you’re 18 or 25 or 30 and need a place to live in the Okanagan. Where are you going to go? Here? Sorry, you can’t even afford the stone […]
Okanagan Okanogan 